The monstrous flood poured in like a tsunami, and the heavens and the earth seemed to change color.

Hundreds of people screamed and ran up the hillside, nothing mattered at this moment, saving their lives was even more important.

There were old people and children in the crowd, there was no order, and the sounds of crying, screaming, and panic were endless.

The roaring waves rolled, and the water roared so that the whole world was overwhelmed by the waves of terror.

Zhao Jun and others at the foot of the mountain in the distance also did not have time to go to the village to rescue supplies, and almost after discovering that the dam had collapsed a few miles away, they ran up the mountain with a rolling belt.

The young man carried the old man on his back, supported each other one by one, and climbed up with difficulty.

Almost as soon as they ran to the top of the hillside, there was a roaring sound from behind, and the splash could be more than ten meters high.

Looking back again, Zhao Jun was already in a cold sweat.

Because the village at the foot of the mountain has been completely submerged, the houses have been washed away, not even rubble remains, all kinds of wood chips, vegetable leaves, and branches are floating, and chickens, ducks, pigs, cows and sheep can be seen fluttering in the water.

If it had been a few minutes later, all of them would have been swallowed up by the water, like an insignificant wave in the water of a tsunami tide, sinking to the bottom in an instant.

Fortunately, they went down the mountain to pick up the old people, otherwise these more than ten lives would have been buried.

There were all kinds of voices all around, some people were shouting, some people were howling, some people were mourning. The rain in the sky crackled and was still falling, and the rolling waves of the flood went in the direction of Changsha City to the north, slammed into the city walls, and then were diverted and surging downstream.

Zhao Jun was in the crowd, just the scattered children brought four, as well as the old and weak women and children, everyone helped the old and the young, and left with difficulty to the heights, within a radius of more than ten miles, the hills and mountains in the Yuhua District of Changsha City in later generations were crowded with people.

It wasn't until Shen Shi in the afternoon that Chen Xiliang, who hadn't slept all night, found Zhao Jun, who was already embarrassed and covered in mud, similar to Zhao Jun's appearance at this time, and his face was ugly as if he was seriously ill and dying.

"Zhiyuan."

Chen Xiliang walked up to Zhao Jun in an extremely low mood and said bitterly: "The riverbank has burst, and more than 20 people are missing under my hands. ”

At that time, the river bank had already been flooded up, but the ground at the foot of the mountain was a little higher, so many officials from the state government and county officials, including some of Zhao Jun's guards, piled sacks near the place where they had not yet been flooded.

After all, the quality of the sacks in the Song Dynasty could not be compared with the polypropylene woven sandbags of later generations, and the water broke through the embankment and surged towards the foot of the mountain, directly breaking the sacks and sweeping people away.

Although most of the people reacted quickly and immediately evacuated to the slope, including Zhao Jun's side, which was far away and safe.

But there are still some people who didn't have time and died in the monstrous flood.

"You've done your best."

Zhao Jun's face was dull and numb, but he comforted Chen Xiliang in a mellow tone and said, "If you hadn't made a quick decision last night, I'm afraid there would have been more people dying in the flood now." ”

"Providence cannot be violated."

Chen Xiliang looked up to the sky and sighed: "Why does the sky treat His people like this? What exactly have we done wrong to punish us like this. ”

"There's nothing providential, it's just the law of nature. Offshore from the southeast, the southeast wind blows in summer and autumn, blowing the humidity over, so that it will rain at this time of year every year, in the Lingnan area, this is called the rainy season. ”

Zhao Jun was sitting on a big rock at the moment, and after hearing Chen Xiliang's words, he slowly seemed to recover from his numbness and sluggishness, and got up with difficulty and said: "The power of nature is great and terrifying, and sometimes it is indeed difficult for human power to resist, but the reason why people are human beings is to fight with heaven and earth with the body of mortals. ”

"Man is stronger than heaven?"

Chen Xiliang looked at Zhao Jundao blankly.

"Yes, man is stronger than heaven."

Zhao Jun didn't bother to pat his pants, which were already full of mud, took a deep breath, turned his head to look at the dense crowd behind him and said: "The flood is ruthless, people are merciful, immediately transfer all the remaining materials of the state government and the county government, and then send someone to notify the Wugang army, and immediately transport a batch of military tents to Changsha, and it is important to resettle the victims." ”

"Yes."

Chen Xiliang replied with difficulty and staggered away.

The impact of this disaster on Changsha City was not bad, because the flood level was not higher than the city wall, and was blocked by the city wall, but there was water in the city, and it rose to one meter at the highest.

Later, in Shanhua County, most of the land was submerged, more than a dozen villages were destroyed, and tens of thousands of acres of land were destroyed.

Strictly speaking, the scale of this flood is much smaller than that in 98 years in the later generations, although the affected areas are not only Changsha, but also Xiangtan, Liuyang, Ningxiang, Xiangyin and other places, but except for Changsha and Xiangyin downstream, the rest of the places are not bad.

Only the villages along the banks of the river were affected, unlike Changsha and Xiangyin, where the cities were almost submerged.

Zhao Jun also immediately organized the aftermath, the heavy rain finally began to light up after three days, the flood has not receded, the people live in the wooden houses and tents built by the government's temporary organization, and the food depends on the government's distribution of porridge and rice.

Fortunately, there are Chang Ping positions in all parts of Tanzhou, plus the Wugang Army sent a large number of military tents, and let the surrounding Shaozhou and Hengzhou raise a batch of clothes, so they barely appeased the victims.

After more than 20 days, the flood water finally receded, and the foot of the mountain was a mess, and the city was full of desolation and ruin.

The fields were completely destroyed, many houses collapsed, and nothing was left after the flood.

Xiaolinzhuang, Qiaotou Township, southeast of Shanhua County, the village is not big, it is not far from the bank of the Xiangshui River, and there are many fewer people in the village than usual at this moment, some of them are going to the city to ask for relief grain and porridge, and some are gone forever.

Qin Sanniang was carrying a two-year-old child on her back in despair, and she was still pulling one in her hand, and her house was gone.

Only two and a half sides of the rammed earth wall remained, most of the roof collapsed, and the wall facing the Xiangjiang River completely disappeared into the waves, leaving only the collapsed rammed earth stones in the house.

Half of the window on the right side was still hanging on it, and the door panel was washed away by the water, and I don't know where it went. Most of the pots and pans are gone, and even if they are still there, only a few broken pieces of porcelain. The bed was intact, but the bedding on it was in tatters.

The house was covered with a thick layer of mud and sand, Qin Sanniang let go of the hand holding the child, and the rough and slender rural woman reached down with her arms and hands, struggling to rummage through the house for useful things, which was already her last hope for survival.

Two porcelain bowls that were relatively well preserved, a black iron pot with a huge gap in the edge, but barely usable, a few copper coins, half a bag of moldy rice, and the husband's two remaining clothes.

Looking at the clothes, Qin Sanniang remembered her husband who was taking them up the mountain with great difficulty, but when she broke the embankment, she accidentally slipped her foot and rolled into the flood and was swallowed by the flood, so she was like ashes, knelt on the ground, and cried loudly, and the terrible cry pierced the entire sky.

Perhaps it was infected by her, and a moment later, the whole village was choking.

Zhou Wu of the neighboring village also sat in a dilapidated and desolate house, he was only 12 years old this year, his father died early, his mother remarried, and he was raised by his grandparents.

But in the disaster, in order to take away the little valuable things in the family, the grandfather was drowned in the moment when the embankment was burst, and the grandmother washed her face with tears all day long, and her body was already weak, and she fell ill after the rain, and he died a few days later.

In the lonely grave, a few young men who had also suffered from the disaster saw him pitiful, and helped him throw a pit and put his grandmother's body in it, without even a tombstone.

Overnight, he became an orphan.

"Mother, hungry"

Qin Sanniang's five-year-old eldest son pulled his mother's sleeve, and he may not know the rechanges in the family yet.

Zhou Wu's neighbor next door saw him sitting in the ruins, and couldn't bear to shout to him: "Xiao Wu, the county government is putting porridge, I'll take you there." ”

Countless victims outside the city slowly staggered towards the gate of Changsha, many of them were still dirty, with a trace of numbness on their faces, and no one knew if they would survive this winter.

The fields were destroyed, the food at home was washed away, and there was no hope, the only fortunate thing in the misfortune was that because Chen Zhixian saw the opportunity relatively early, there were not many people killed and injured this time.

But at least 200,000 people were affected, so what if they survived? Many people like Qin Sanniang and Zhou Wu may not live long.

Outside the south city gate, the silt and sand have not yet been eradicated, and the county and state government are organizing to clean up the city first and restore order in the city first. Now that it is September, it is too late to plant late rice, so we should first do a good job in the city, and then organize the opening of fields outside the city in exchange for spring ploughing next year.

There are at least 20 stalls near the city gate, and there is a long queue behind them, and thousands of people affected by the disaster are receiving supplies. After receiving it, the porridge was drunk at the beginning, and then a Xu official would come over to investigate the situation.

Zhao Jun stood aside, next to a servant sitting on a table and chair, recording the family situation of the victims who received the supplies, including where they lived, how many people were left in the family, how much food they still had, and so on. In addition to preventing those who have surplus food from coming to ask for relief food, this is also to investigate the severity of the disaster.

If the family situation is serious, the government will take care of it as soon as possible.

At this moment, Zhao Jun's face is visibly haggard, and white hair can be faintly seen on his forehead and sideburns, he is only twenty-four years old this year, but he has been so worried that he can't sleep all night lately.

In addition to mobilizing grain from the Jinghu North Road to help the victims in Changsha and the surrounding disaster-stricken areas, the money and materials he carried with him were also used to buy grain, and he bought a large amount of grain and grass from the rich landlords in neighboring prefectures to relieve the people.

But so many people have been affected by the disaster, and the victims have lost their families' food stocks, and they have to consume countless amounts of food every day.

Even if they have already raised grain and grass everywhere, they are only maintaining basic food and clothing, and it will take eight or nine months to plow in spring next year, and then harvest in summer and autumn.

"Name."

"Zhou Wu."

"How many people are left in the family?"

"They're all dead."

"No other relatives?"

"Nope."

At this time, the voice next to him interrupted Zhao Jun's thoughts.

He turned his head to look and saw a half-grown child, standing dirty, with tears on his face.

This time, thanks to Chen Xiliang's early warning, the lives of most of the victims were saved, and there were very few cases like this child's whole family.

Zhao Jun saw the child's pale face, tattered and dirty, he couldn't help but go up and touch his head, and asked softly, "How many acres of land are there at home?" ”

"There is only one acre of corner fields in the village and a few vegetable fields."

Zhou Wu replied.

"Ugh."

Zhao Jun couldn't help but sigh again, and was about to ask the adult next to him.

At this moment, the voice of another scribe talking to a woman pulling a child came to his ears.

"Name."

"Everyone in the family calls me Sanniang."

"What's the last name?"

"Qin."

"How many people are left?"

"It's just our mother's three, my in-laws left early, and my husband died."

"Then I'll give you an extra bag of rice, can you handle it?"

"I don't want this rice."

"Why?"

"The child is hungry, come to be a full ghost, the husband is gone, he can't live anymore, and he will throw himself into the river after eating."

That indifferent and resolute tone made Zhao Jun shudder.

He turned his head to see a woman in her twenties, equally dirty, holding a doll in her hand and carrying one on her back.

In late autumn, the weather was slowly turning colder, their clothes were thin, and the two children seemed to have purple faces from the cold.

The woman seemed to have cried, tired from crying, there was no sparkle in her eyes, and there was only that lifeless numbness on her face.

It's like a dead man.

The scribe also looked at her blankly, she had already received the porridge, did not go to get the relief food, put down the child behind her and fed him to drink, and the eldest one took a bowl and pulled it.

Zhao Jun pulled Zhou Wu over, and then raised his head, surrounded by people who were sad, lifeless, or numb.

At this moment, he was sad from his heart, held back the tears that were about to fall, climbed onto the table of the scribe next to him, condescendingly, and said to Qin Sanniang: "Qin Sanniang, please allow me to say a few words to you and the people. ”

Qin Sanniang raised her head.

The people around also raised their heads.

Zhao Jun shouted vigorously: "Folks, you must be very confused and miserable now. Why is it that we are trying so hard to live, and yet God is so unfair and makes us suffer. ”

"We worked hard in the land under our feet, toiled day and night, did not dare to rest every day, and had to work hard every day in exchange for only three meals and clothing."

"But sometimes, fate is like this, a disaster, a famine, a harsh tax, can make us bankrupt and ruined."

"Why is the world always so dark, why is it always so poor that we can't live?"

"It's not because we don't work hard, it's because some people don't do it well. It is the responsibility of the imperial court and the officials of the world to let the people live and work in peace and contentment. But there were bad times for the imperial court, and there were bad times for officials. ”

"But let's not lose hope in this world, and no one should say that they can't live anymore and want to leave this world. Because there are not only bad officials in the court, but also officials who want to feed the people of the whole world, and to wear warm clothes and live in houses for all of you. ”

"Chen Xiliang, the magistrate of Changsha County, is such a person, and I am also such a person. We, the Han people, have come out of the thorns and stood tall in this world. He has been bullied by the Hu people, drowned by floods, starved to death by famine, but he has never perished. ”

"Because we always have hope, and some officials, when they have power, forget about their roots, thinking that they have climbed on your heads. But what I want to tell you is that you are the masters of the country, you are the people of the Great Song Dynasty, and your existence has the existence of the Great Song Dynasty, not those high-ranking officials. ”

"I, Zhao Jun, promise here, no matter what, I must ensure that everyone lives in good health. There is no rice grain at home, and the court sends it. If any landlord or rich grain merchant dares to raise the price of grain, I will exterminate their families and distribute the rice and grain they have hoarded to the people for free. ”

"All those who want to take advantage of the disaster to lower the price of land and deprive you of your land, tell me, let them come and ask me if the knife in my hand is sharp."

"Don't hold back the grievances you have suffered, tell me all about them."

"Don't fight your sufferings alone, tell them all to the government and to my ears."

"I will listen to all of you seriously, hear what each of you says, what everyone says, and what difficulties you encounter."

"You don't have enough food, come to me. Not enough oil and salt, come to me. There were no seeds for spring ploughing in the coming year, and there was no labor at home, and they all came to me. ”

"I want all the people who have been affected by the disaster to live until the autumn harvest of the next year."

"I want you to have your own land, to have the hope of being able to live, to have the faith that even in the midst of darkness and despair, you will still have the confidence that the day will dawn!"

"Do you believe me?"

Zhao Jun used all his strength and shouted to the people around him.

That moment.

On everyone's face, a flower called hope bloomed!

They heard Zhao Jun's name, his promise to the victims, and his oath.

Everyone shouted, "Believe! Believe! Believe! ”

The voice.

It's like soaring into the sky.

Let the thief who rains down the merciless plague be heard!

In the last chapter, some people said that the protagonist was stupid, and some people said that they didn't read it and deleted the book. All I can say is, comrade, you have no convictions of your own. If the same thing were to be done to a great man, guess he would have gone. Put it on those martyrs who threw their heads and spilled their blood, and you guess whether he will go or not. What I want to tell you is that the protagonist is a man of faith, and although he used to be a troll, he still has faith.

Sometimes, there is hope in the heart, comrades.

(End of chapter)